Brigadier John Durnford-Slater Books

John Durnford-Slater raised and trained the first Commando unit in 1940, became an outstanding leader of special operations and witnessed some of the most daring exploits of World War II. Commando is his remarkable story. Commando sprang into being in 1940 in order to harry Axis forces in pinprick raids that were impossible for regular army units. In the summer of 1940 John Durnford-Slater led the men of 3 Commando in an exploratory operation on Guernsey. A raid on the Loften Islands, off Norway, followed in 1941 and, between 26 and 28 December 1941, the commandos launched their raid against Vaagso. 3 Commando took part in the raid on Dieppe and this was followed by operations in Sicily and Italy, France and, ultimately, Germany itself. The destruction wrought by the commandos was such that Hitler ordered all personnel captured in such raids executed. The commandos' spirit, however, remained undaunted and this is reflected in John Durnford-Slater's exciting and forthright memoirs. Now placed in context by David List's details of 3 Commando's operations, and David Buxton's notes on casualties and awards, this stirring book, long heralded as a classic, now makes its first appearance as a paperback.

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.